Police have arrested a suspect in a series of incidents that defaced several religious institutions, including a statue of the virgin Mary and the door of a synagogue.
Chris Papadimitropoulos, 55, was arrested yesterday after allegedly being caught on surveillance cameras spray-painting the Virgin red outside of Bay Ridge's St. Anselm Roman Catholic Church. Papadimitropoulos, who is from the neighborhood, also defaced a crucifix and the door of a synagogue, writing "no" on the door of the Bay Ridge Jewish Center.
“To see deliberate destruction at this scale was just astonishing,” Rev. Martin Cull told CBS. ”I almost felt like crying.” The statue at St. Anselm was so badly damaged that it will have to be sent to another location to be restored.
Papadimitropoulos was allegedly an equal-opportunity offender, also defacing a nearby Presbyterian Church as well as a Greek Orthodox one. Police arrested the suspect nearby one of the acts of vandalism. ABC reports that Papadimitropoulos will be charged with six counts of criminal mischief as a hate crime, 12 counts of criminal mischief and 12 counts of making graffiti.
“We were able to identify him based on pictures and video taken at one of the scenes, and police officers identified him as wearing the same clothing — the clothing was worn in the video,” said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
